Afternoon,

picked up an 81 Rx-7 for the price of fixing a buddy's 1974 econoline Van

been doing some reading up on the car, and the rotary engine, intresting readings.

I have been trying to figure out what model my 81 is

it has 160,000 km on it

not running at the moment, have been told that prev owner before the guy that I got it off of, was driving it, I'm guessing broke an apex seal???? on one of the rotors kept driving it, then broke one on the others??? not too sure, went and turned it over (has no plugs in it at the moment) can hear air rushing in and out of the plug holes.....

anyhow, here are a few pics of it.

 

nice car dud, i dont know aboout ur apex seal prob but by the looks the engine looks like its in good shape, if it turns over and u hear air rushing in and u can feel it tryin to start its should.u might just need to replace a fuel filter or even just put in the battery ,spark plug wires, 4 spark plugs and new coils to get that running, who knows.everyone here is great at helpin out and will help u get that bad boy runnin. by the way im jose and welcome guy

 

Wow, that is a very nice find. The gauges shouldn't be red, I think someone changed them to have red rather than yellow. The dual color is nice, just fix the rust.

Not having plugs in there might have let a small animal climb in and turning it over could've killed it. Oh well, I guess I could drive up and take it off your hands for spare parts.

 

Is that hylomar coming out from between those rotor housings? Looks like a lot. If that went the other way, into the engine, it maybe could've clogged the seals or something. It's pretty sticky stuff. Anyway, if it is, it could indicate a recent rebuild. Nice find though.

 

u better hope u dont have emissions

 

here in Alberta, there are no emissions, yeah, I know about the rats nest removal

 

I really like the two colors thing. If you want to know which model it is, tell us what it comes with (power windows, cruise control, rear disc brakes, things of that nature).

 

Welcome to the club!
And here are some diagrams to help with spark plug wires.

 

You've got some body work ahead of you, but you could make it a nice car, as anyone whose seen my two tone car knows I like two tones, that could be a nice looking car you've got there. Anyone else curious about what that plate is over the #1 trailing plug is? very strange. Anyway, welcome to the world of first gens, of all the people on this forum you've found the most friendly and helpful so I doubt you'll have many problems getting the answers you need. good luck.

 

Hey Welcome to the club. Two years ago I didn't know anything about rotary. Now I do know enough because of people here and at the local club meeting. So, if you have patience then you are one step ahead. So, wish you good luck with that and hope to see that Rx7 running in the road.

 

thank you all for your replies and diagrams on how the wires go, as for options, I think that this one is weird,

it has A/C (which the prev owner decided to delete the a/c pump and hoses in the compartment, but left the condensor and the evaporator cores) and moonroof, but I don't recall it having cruise, definitly doen't have power windows or door locks. as for disc brakes, the car is over at my buddies house, so I cannot look at that right now.

I plan on fixing it up and it being my summer driver, as I drive an 89 SHO right now.

 

It sounds like a GS model to me. I don't know what options were available for '81's (like the cruise, LSD, disc brakes, power windows, and that ****.) But according to your description it sounds like a GS to me as I don't think the base model came with a/c or the targa/moonroof/sunroof.

 

Alright, did some more work on the car tonight, got it running (not the best, but can at least move it now) and found out some more info on it.

it has rear disc brakes - if I have read correctly it should have limited slip

it needs a good carb rebuild - float(s) sticking

must be the apex seals carboned up - ran ATF through to lube and clean the seals, and from turning it over you could hear a definite difference in the sound of air rushing out of the spark plug holes. left some atf in there overnight to help clean it up after it had been run and warmed up. will see what the outcome of that is, will also remove the exhaust manifold and see about cleaning the apex seals up that way as well.

here are some more pics as well.


interior needs a little work




eeeeeeetttttttsssss aaaaallllliiivvvvvveeee


thanks for the spark plug wire routing diagram, worked wonders


hmmmm, I spy disc brakes there....


kinda missing some a/c components, nice that they chopped the hoses too


a little rusty, but yup it's a diff


yeppers definitly looks like rear discs to me


not too much for electrical options






help me, my stiching has come apart......


that plate there, I'm guessing that, that is a canadian block heater.....


kinda dry rotted seals

 

Before you start dumping a bunch of cash into the car, pull the bins and rear tires, check for wheel well rust. The lower part of the body doesn't look good. If the rust isn't bad or repairable, fix that puppy up and enjoy it.

I was guessing that the plate around the #1 plugs was a heater, never seen one quite like that.

 

i'like the color

 

I have checked a bit of the car out while it's sitting on the ground, will have to pull the rear bins and check them out.

from what I have seen looking in the wheel wells, and the floor pans, is that the main structure, with one minor spot in the drivers rear floor pan corner, is structurly sound, the inner wheel wells have little to no rust in them alot of the rust underneath is surface rust, there is only 1 or 2 small spots that are starting to work their way through.

once I can get a plate for it, I will bring it down to my work and put it on the hoist and do a proper inspection, but I'm confident that she is a sound car structurly.